Carrie Fisher sent a cow’s tongue to an Oscar-winning producer who assaulted her friend, it has been revealed.

Heather Ross, who works in the film and TV industry, praised the late Star Wars actress for being “protective” and a “mother figure” to her.

Ms Ross, who is not an actress, spoke about her experience of being harassed by an unidentified film producer in response to the ongoing Harvey Weinstein scandal, which has seen a number of actresses allege that Weinstein sexually harassed them.

Harvey Weinstein

Ms Ross told Tucson-based US radio station 94.9 MixFM of her ordeal, explaining that she met with the “high-profile, Oscar-winning producer” to discuss a project on which he was working.

She said that he picked her up in his car and that they were going to go out to eat, but then he flipped her seat back and “all of a sudden he was on top of me”.

“He has his right hand that was busy and his left hand was on my chest by my neck holding me down,” she said, adding that it happened “so fast”.

She added: “He said ‘you’ll never make a movie in my town, get the F out of my car. I was shocked, I got out of that car… I literally ran. I didn’t know what this guy was going to do to me.”

Asked by the radio host if her friends wanted to “take action” against the producer, Ms Ross spoke of Fisher and her involvement.

She said: “Carrie Fisher was like a mother figure and she took care of people, which she did, and I was one of many.

“And when I told her about this, I sent her a message, I was like, ‘you’re never going to believe what happened’ and she was very protective of me and more scared for my safety than anything.

“A few weeks later, she sent me a message online and said, ‘I just saw ‘blank’ at Sony Studios. I knew he would probably be there, so I went to his office and personally delivered a Tiffany box wrapped with a white bow.’

“I asked her what was inside and she said, ‘It was a cow tongue from Jerry’s Famous Deli in Westwood with a note that said, if you ever touch my darling Heather or any other woman again, the next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box!'”

Ms Ross added that Fisher “personally delivered it to him” and was there to see his response.

She added: “It felt validating to know, OK, first of all, this woman who I love as a friend was not just a fake Hollywood friend.

“She was true, she did that all on her own, I didn’t ask for anything, that was all her.

“That’s who Carrie Fisher was. She spoke out and she put things out there in your face.”